Low propagation loss silicon-on-sapphire nanowires for the mid-IR

We report low loss silicon-on-sapphire nanowires for applications to mid infrared optics. We achieve propagation losses of < 1dB/cm at λ=1550nm, < 1.5dB/cm at λ=2080nm and < 2dB/cm at λ = 5.08 μm.